First Female and Non-Doctor Elected as President of the American Association of Tissue Banks

DAYTON, OH – Community Tissue Services (CTS) announces Diane Wilson, chief operating officer, will become president of the American Association of Tissue Banks (AATB) on September 15, 2009 at the AATB’s annual meeting in Las Vegas.  Wilson is the first female and non-doctor elected to the highest position of the AATB. 

In her role as president, Wilson will be responsible for the oversight of more than 100 accredited tissues banks that provide more than 1.5 million tissue grafts annually for transplant in the United States.  Life enhancing tissue is used in a variety of medical and surgical procedures by dental, orthopedic, cardiovascular and neurological surgeons. 

“I am humbled by this honor, want to be a good leader and I want to be there for the donors and recipients,” said Wilson.  During her two-year term as president of ATTB, Wilson has defined several goals:

Public Trust – “We want to continue to educate the public, especially donor families and recipients, ensuring them correct information about tissue donation and the safety of transplants,” said Wilson.
More Involvement from Operating Nurses – “The operating nurses and the blood bank employees are the individuals that handle the tissue. They are integral to our success and have traditionally not been a part of AATB.  It is our goal to engage and educate the end users who utilize tissue grafts to enhance the lives of their patients,” said Wilson.
 
Help Unite Organ Procurement Organizations, Eye Banks and Tissue Banks – “We all stand for one – to respect donor families and to save and enhance more lives.  Through our work, we will continue to stand together and make the best use of our resources,” said Wilson.
Share Best Practices – “It is with education and exchanging information that we improve our processes across the board.  By sharing our knowledge, successes and failures, we open new doors in leading the way for advance health care in tissue banking biotechnology,” said Wilson.                           

Wilson is responsible for all daily operations at CTS including quality assurance and ethics, in addition to monitoring ways of offering consent and distributing tissue.  “We have to be accountable to our donor families and to the surgeons who expect quality grafts that will go on to touch the lives of millions of people,” said Wilson.  “Who else is honored with a job where you wake up in the morning and work with people who have given you their final gift – the gift of life.”          

Wilson received a Bachelors of Science in Nursing from the University of Phoenix and a Masters of Science in Nursing and Health Administration also from the University of Phoenix.  She is a licensed registered nurse who has worked in the health care field for more than 35 years.  Wilson has authored numerous abstracts and publications on tissue banking and has made more than 50 presentations nationally since 1995.

The AATB is dedicated to ensuring that human tissues intended for transplantation are safe and free of infectious disease, of uniform high quality and available in quantities sufficient to meet national needs.  To fulfill that mission, the AATB published the only authoritative industry standards for tissue banks in 1984, and initiated a voluntary inspection and accreditation program in 1986 for its institutional members to ensure tissue banking activities are performed in a manner in compliance with these standards. 

Headquartered in Dayton, Ohio, CTS is a nonprofit quality, ethical provider of services to recipients, donor families, medical communities, and community partners through the respectful recovery, processing and distribution of tissue grafts.  CTS, an accredited member of the AATB, is one of the largest tissue banks in the United States and operates regional offices in California, Texas, Indiana, Tennessee, Pennsylvania, Oregon and Ohio, and two satellite offices in Idaho and Oregon.  In 2008, CTS distributed more than 125,000 tissue grafts to 2,000 hospitals, physicians and surgeons.

For more information on CTS, visit communitytissue.org or call 937-461-3364. 

# # #

© Community Tissue Services